How Melissa Gilbert Got Involved in Politics—it Was as Easy as Making a Phone Call

After Melissa Gilbert moved to Michigan with her husband Timothy Busfield, she became interested in the local politics. She was particularly interested in the state’s 2014 gubernatorial campaign that had Democrat Mark Schauer running against Republican incumbent Rick Snyder. She liked Schauer and his running mate, Lisa Brown, and wanted to support them. So Gilbert and Busfield made some phone calls to get the former Little House on the Prairie star involved. 

How Melissa Gilbert came to help Mark Schauer’s campaign 

Gilbert liked Schauer and Brown and what they stood for. She also disliked Snyder. 

“The more I read, the more I felt that this guy Rick Snyder was a typical neocon, antifeminist, anti- choice, anti-immigrant, xenophobic, homophobic, creepy climate denier,” she wrote in her 2022 memoir Back to the Prairie. 

It “infuriated” Gilbert to think of Michigan, a previously progressive state, turning purple. She felt called to support Schauer and Brown. So, one day at the gym with Busfield, Gilbert asked her husband what she should do. 

“Let’s make some phone calls,” he said. “We’ll find them.” 

And they did. They found their campaign headquarters. Busfield explained that his wife wanted to get involved and they were more than happy to accept the help. 

The ‘Little House’ actor’s involvement in the campaign

Schauer and Brown’s team put Gilbert to work right away. She went door-to-door, handed out pamphlets, made appearances, and did some public speaking whenever the candidates couldn’t make an event. 

When election day came, Gilbert got up early to vote and then spent the day with Schauer and Brown on their campaign bus. 

“We finished at one of the large hotels in Detroit, where we decamped to a floor with all the state’s Democratic candidates and regrouped in our own big suite later that evening, watching the returns,” wrote Gilbert. 

It quickly became clear that Schauer and Brown were not going to receive the results the team had hoped for.   

“It was just crushing to sit there and lose,” wrote Gilbert. “I needed a few days of quiet and isolation to recover from the defeat and set aside all the work I was ready to do and the plans I was eager to launch.” 

How Melissa Gilbert decided to run for Congress

Despite the devastating loss, Gilbert regarded her time working with Schauer and Brown as an overwhelmingly positive experience. 

“The campaign experience left me feeling good about the way I had spent my time,” she wrote. “I liked being with people, hearing their stories, and letting them know I would try to figure out a way to help.” 

So when she received a proposal from Schauer following the election, she was all ears. He called her one day to catch up and to ask her if she’d be interested in running for Congress in her district.   

“It took a moment to make sense of those words,” she wrote. “I asked the obvious question: Why me? Mark said he had observed the way I listened to people tell me their problems and genuinely tried to help them. He felt I belonged in service. Service was one thing, and politics was another. I was flattered.”

She told Schauer that she needed time to think about it and talk things over with Busfield. Of course, she eventually decided to go for it. Though would end her campaign prematurely due to health concerns.